With special thanks to don for compiling a preliminary list of previous winners, we are ready to announce eligible entries for our first Season Championship. The 32 eligible winners were to have been announced last May, but yours truly was MIA then - c'est la vie and say no more. We are now 21 weeks into the second season and I am compiling that winners list now. Three remain unknown, a situation I will attempt to resolve.

With up to two entries allowed per player for multiple wins, here are the 32 eligible championship players for season number one, 16-Sep-07 to 11-May-08. It looks like the championsip will be great fun with a great group of regular FIBSters. Our virtual pitchers of Bloody Marys are raised forever more as a toast to you all.

The championship format will be single-elimination 5 point matches with a 7-point final in two 16 player brackets. The championship finals, if necessary, will be 7-point double-elimination matches between the winners of the two 16 player brackets. The Championship match will be scheduled to be held in place of the weekly tourney on some Sunday morning to be announced. It may be followed by a regular weekly tourney or we may just miss a week if all the watchers had too many Bloody Marys. All matches in the 16 player brackets shall be scheduled by the players and can be played at any time within a 7-10 day window. We urge you to try getting your match finished in 3-5 days, but understand if you can't. A warning will be issued to both players if not completed within 7 days. The Championship TD, not yet appointed, will handle all protests and disputes, if any, and award the match after 10 days in typical FIBS fashion or by my unilateral decision as the self-appointed Bloody Mary tournament czar.

Registration to the Season Championship is open now by invitation only. Invitations with the TourneyBot tourney number for your randomly assigned bracket have been sent to each of you by FIBS messages to the nicks above. If you've qualified for both, remember to register in both brackets.

Championship play will commence on Haloween (seems appropriate) and run automatically thenceforth by TourneyBot. According to Tom, we will not likely have any problems or conflicts. TourneyBot will nag you each time you log in regarding your next opponent for the tourney. Should any eligible players not register, TourneyBot will simply assign a bye in that round.

Good luck to all eligible players for this first Bloody Mary "Sunday Special" Season Championship series.

Registration is by invitation only - open only to winners during season one. Please register if you are eligible. Don't miss the fun or chance at some way cool prizes. Registration will remain open until the brackets fill or play is started on Halloween Day. If the brackets fill early, I will start the bracket as soon as it is filled. TourneyBot will then advise you of your pairing each time you log in. Players are expected to schedule their own matches and complete each round within 7-10 days. We encourage you to play your early rounds as quickly as possible. I will warn once at 7 days and award the match, if necessary, after 10 days. On the completion of each match, TourneyBot will then assign your next pairing. Once a bracket is started, details can be provided, as necessary, by using TELL TOURNEYBOT MATCHES 262x.

Weekly Bloody Mary tournaments remain open to all, but the Season Championship requires you win one of the weekly Bloddy Mary events in the previous season. We are now 22 matches into the second Bloody Mary season. So, if you haven't won a "Sunday Special" tourney yet, join us some Sunday and win one to qualify for the next championship. Win two or more for up to two invites.

The first bracket started on Halloween morning, as planned, but a temporary problem with TourneyBot delayed the start of the second bracket until Saturday morning. Additionally, TourneyBot has been down occasionally for maintenance. Any matches played but not reported below may not have been reported to TourneyBot and must be reported to me to be awarded properly.

TourneyBot will advise you of new or pending pairings each time you login, a scheduled opponent logs in, or you win a match. Players are expected to schedule their own matches and complete each round within 7-10 days. You are encouraged to play your early rounds as quickly as possible. I will warn once after 7 days and award the match, if necessary, after 10 days.

On the completion of each match, TourneyBot will automatically the winners next pairing. These are single elimination brackets. If you lose, you are still a winner, but are eliminated from the Season I Championship. The FINALS will be double elimination with all 9-point matches. It will be scheduled to run on a Sunday in place of the regular weekly tourney. Details can be provided, at any time, for players and Bloody Mary fans by using TELL TOURNEYBOT MATCHES 2625 or 2626. Good luck to all and enjoy the fun of our first championship.

Weekly Bloody Mary tournaments remain open to all, but the Season Championship requires you win one of the weekly Bloddy Mary events in the previous season. We are now 26 weeks into the second Bloody Mary season. So, if you haven't won a "Sunday Special" tourney yet, join us some Sunday and win one to qualify for the next championship. Win two or more for up to two invites.

Education: that which reveals to the wise, and conceals from the stupid, the vast limits of their knowledge. -- Mark Twain US humorist, novelist, short story author, & wit (1835 - 1910)

Congratulations to pck the winner of our first Bloody Mary Season Championship defeating yours truly, sixty_something, in a very close double-elimination finals. The finals went down to the last game of the last match with the cube at 4 and double match point. We played the match about two weeks ago in parallel with the regular Bloody Mary tourney. I won the first match 7-5. In the second match, pck took a 6-4 lead into the Crawford game which I won with a gammon. But pck won the post Crawford game winning the match, 7-6, when my ace point backgame fell apart with an untimely roll of 66. In the final match, pck, 2-away and leading 5-3, offered a good cube which I correctly accepted according to GNUbg and redoubled for match point, but pck went on to win the match and the title becoming our first Bloody Mary Season Champion.

The big prize for participants in our first season champion are Nacci points offered by donzeamon, czar of Nacciland and creator of FIBS-O-NACCI. The total points available, nearly 3,500 Naccis, are the equivalent to a weekly award of 100 Naccis to weekly winners over a 32+ week season with interest. The championship winner receives 1,000 Naccis and each registered entrant, already a winner of at least one weekly event, receives at least 30 Naccis.

Additionally, a special thanks to luya are also due for providing the graphic image above, designed and customized by a friend of hers, for our Bloody Mary Season Championship Cup. Your nick, pck, becomes the first to be virtually engraved on this really cool trophy.

Despite my best intentions at attempting to obtain other prizes for the tourney, time did not permit securing and confirming other prizes. Since the Season II Bloody Mary Championship is about to start, we will use the same format for prizes as in Season I. Maybe by Season III we can obtain corporate sponsorship(s) and other prize contributions to spice up the prize pool a little. For now, Naccis, a very nice virtual trophy, and bragging rights will have to suffice.

Bloody Mary Nacci Prizes

[table=]RANK, AWARD, TOTAL1st,

1000

,

1000

2nd,

500

,

500

3 & 4,

250

,

500

5 - 8,

125

,

500

9 - 16,

60

,

480

17 - 32,

30

,

480

,

Total

,

3460

[/table]

Player Awards

Seven players qualified for two entries in the championship with two or more wins during the regular season and 26 of 32 eligible entries registered and played in the season championship. See the post below for details on how the two winners brackets were seeded and the results of each round. The list below is the official prize list for Nacci points from which donzeamon will award Naccis (Note: You must have a FIBS-O-NACCI account to receive your prize, otherwise you may enjoy them with your favorite salsa dip with your next Bloody Mary).

[table=]PLAYER, SEASON I WINS,&nbsp; &nbsp;NACCI PRIZEpck, ,

1000

sixty_something, ,

625

RickrInSF, ,

310

socksey, ,

310

adrian, ,

125

KDP, ,

125

sunray, ,

125

don, ,

120

cassandra, ,

60

DeaDice, ,

60

Im_not_gimmeluck, ,

60

kristoffer, ,

60

rif_raf, ,

60

Sixta_II, ,

60

teyakis, ,

60

breadfruit, ,

30

cowgirl, ,

30

jasonj, ,

30

onion, ,

30

,TOTAL,

3280

[/table]

Thanks to all who played in our first Season Championship and who have played in the weekly Bloody Mary tournaments. Bloody Marys on Sundays have become a FIBS tradition thanks to all you players, old and new, who have kept it going with regular weekly attendance of 20 or more from all over the world. Hopefully, we'll see you in the Championship for Season II which is beginning soon or in a future championship. I will continue to work toward increasing the prize pool to add to the excitement and fun for future championships.

Special thanks again to donzeamon for the Nacci prizes, luya for the great trophy, don, manxcat and others for keeping this tournament active and being the TD during my absence, and to socksey for helping me get started as a TD many moons ago, and offering encouragement, support, and friendship in making this as a regular weekly FIBS tourney. Hope to see you all for Bloody Marys again for many Sundays to come, but BYOB, for now.